birthday weekend + twisted pony tutorial

Friday Night Dinner Attire:

I usually wear this tunic / obscenely short dress with leggings or really, really thick black tights.  However, both leggings and said-tights were dirty on Friday... so I went with the gray.  Only to notice in the bathroom that I was sporting the very distinct "OMG She Forgot Her Pants Look."  Hence why I did not remove my coat until we sat down and then practically clawed the poor hostess when she attempted to take it from over my lap.  In theory, nearly pulling a Britney at the Ritz during NBA All-Star Weekend is pretty small potatoes, considering the potential high dollar hooker / slutty athlete groupie factor... but I had hoped to celebrate ANOTHER YEAR CLOSER TO THIRTY in an age-/hygienically-appropriate fashion.  Oh well.  There's always next year. 

Tunic "Dress" - Single via Elements in Dallas (Winter 2007)

Grey Tights - Hue via Nordstrom

Black Patent Peeptoe Platform Pumps - Nine West (2006)

Red Coat - Guess via Nordstrom (Winter 2007)

Blue Drop Earrings - present

Gold Medallion Necklace - wedding present

Gold Tassel Necklace - present

Ivory & Gold Cuff - Banana Republic

Saturday (movies)

Evs spoiled me rotten big-time this birthday.  I've been wanting a gold pair of Revas and figured that would be my only gift... Trixy Minx shocked me with the LV Speedy 30 that I've wanted since I discovered at the age of 10 that Louis Vuitton meant so much more than the bags laid on street corners in Chinatown (that discovery was an eye-opener!).  Way too much luxury for one measley ol' birthday, but I don't think I'll protest too much!  

Silk Magenta Deep-V Sweater - Banana Republic (Winter 2008)

Burnt Silk Rosette Cami- J.Crew (Winter 2009)

"Always Skinny" Jeans - GAP

Gold Reva Flats - Tory Birch - present

Gold Figure-8 Earrings - present

Gold Medallion Necklace - wedding present

Damier Azur Canvas "Speedy 30" - Louis Vuitton - present

How-To: Twisty Pony

This definitely works better with slightly-dirty hair!  If your hair is really slick / clean, tease the crown a bit and spray with a fine aerosol mist hairspray before styling to give your hair some grip.  

(1) Taking both your thumbs and tracing up from the outer points of each eyebrow, grab the very front section of your hair - ie: what is (or would be) your bangs and the hair immediately behind your bangs.  Twist loosely, creating a small bump or poof on the back of the crown of your head.  Secure with bobby pins.**

** Instead of fastening the bobby pins on either side of your twist, try sticking just one or two through the center of the twist - working the bobby pin from the bottom of the twist up towards the crown.  This is hard to describe in writing, but if you imagine the twist as a tube beginning at the crown of your head and pointing downward towards the back of your neck, you are going to stick the bobby pin into the tube pointing up towards the crown.  Securing the hair this way hides the pin.  Don't worry if it doesn't feel really secure - the other twists and the pony will hold it all in place. 

(2) Now, taking both your thumbs from behind each ear and tracing back towards the center of your head, create two more sections of hair.  Loosely twist each section in towards the back of the head, securing them together with bobby pins when they join together in the middle. 

(3) Pull the ends of the twists together with the rest of your hair and fasten with a hair rubberband.   Viola! 

It takes some practice to make everything look fluid together - one trick is to be sure and not pull anything too tight!